Disclaimer: Independently of my arguments in this blog post, it remains very important that sanitise your hands regularly, avoid physical contact with other people, and reduce your social interactions to the necessary levels. Particularly avoid contact with elderly people, and those with underlying health conditions. Consult your local government health websites for more information, particularly […]
The upcoming budget, as it has been suggested by the European Commission in May last year, excites itself over its own ambitions. With more contributions from the 27 member states, the European Commission wants to move all countries away from fossil fuel use for energy production, reform agricultural subsidies in a way that Central and Eastern […]
‘Farming looks mighty easy when your plough is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield.’ Those were the prescient words of US president Dwight Eisenhower. Today, debate about farming has been colonised by environmental activists with little regard for the realities of farming.
Turkey and Syria are headed towards war, after 30 Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack by the Syrian government in a zone previously negotiated to be safe for them. At the same time, Turkey and Russia are also in a de facto war, with Ankara going beyond what are normally considered retaliatory strikes. The […]
The Lancet’s new “A Future for the World’s Children?” report is once again some heavy nanny-stating. But this time, it goes right into real-life parody. The once well respected, but increasingly loony Lancet has in recent years endorse some of the harshest Nanny State policies around. From advertising restrictions to taxation of sugary drinks, the […]
Only a fraction of Europeans invest in stocks, while American consumers are a lot more likely to get involved in financial markets. The European Union could make strategic regulatory changes to change this for the better. With historically low interest rates, Europeans look at their savings accounts with warranted frustration. Investments in commodities are traditionally […]
A new report by Unearthed — Greenpeace’s “investigative journalism” platform — claims that a large chunk of pesticides sold to farmers are “highly hazardous”. Their claims are highly misleading and outright wrong, and can have potentially life-threatening consequences. Together with the NGO Public Eye, Unearthed collected “a huge dataset of $23.3bn agrochemical sales for sales (sic) […]
The incoming European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs has only about one thing in common with yours truly: he’s Luxembourgish. Nicolas Schmit is a lifelong socialist and has been Minister of Labor in Luxembourg for as far as I can remember. Bureaucrat-made-politician, Schmit is a sworn enemy of the free market and no great […]
A regrettable consequence of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union is that the bloc has lost a mitigating influence on its political integration. For the most part, the UK has sought to protect its financial and regulatory advantages against Brussels, which has been keen to over-regulate London’s finance industry. Former British prime minister […]
A devastating locust plague has hit East Africa, with swarms of insects covering an area the size of Moscow. In desperation towards this pest, farmers and police in countries like Kenya and Ethiopia are using every tool available, ranging from pesticides to flamethrowers and even machine guns. Their desperation is real and justified: with large amounts […]
Bill Wirtz 